State of Kentucky Archives: on Foreign Policy

Jim Gray:
Stand with our allies to protect our global interests

It's clear that ISIS will stop at nothing and use unconventional methods to strike fear into our hearts. We must destroy ISIS where they are and prevent them from attacking us here at home. To stay ahead, we must be strategic, strong and innovative.
Vital American assistance has enabled our allies in the region to shrink the territory ISIS controls and we should continue that aid as long as it is achieving results.

We must also stand strong with our allies to identify and root out terrorists and
protect our global interests. One of our most important allies in this fight is Israel. Jim supports a strong US-Israel relationship because of our strategic alliance, as well as our shared commitment to pursuing peace, democratic principles, human
rights and religious freedom. Israel must maintain its qualitative military edge. To that end, the US should quickly ensure its access to the weapons Israel needs to maintain the peace and its security.

Mitch McConnell:
1985: Led anti-apartheid bill through Senate

Mitch McConnell's foreign policy transformation is one of the bigger untold political stories of this election year. McConnell's signature anti-apartheid bill is an example of these seeming contradictions. As a Southern freshman, he spoke out strongly in
July 1985: "Many people might overlook or discount the significant internal political turbulence which has scarred the last decade of South African history," McConnell said. "But apartheid & the severity of life under its discriminatory weight is not a
problem we can continue to wish 8,199 miles away. We are a nation and international community bound together by principles of freedom, equality and justice," he added. "I share a commitment to those values and I am troubled by the inevitable damaging
consequences of their betrayal."

But the same passion is entirely missing in a 2009 McConnell biography: McConnell's South Africa stance is described as one calculated to "demonstrate his political independence" from the lame-duck Ronald Reagan.

Source: Politico.com e-zine on 2014 Kentucky Senate race
Mar 26, 2014

Matt Bevin:
No unilateral action in Eastern Europe

I asked about how Bevin would respond to Russia's intervention in Crimea, were he in the Senate. "When you come from a position of waffling and equivocation and weakness, you don't curry respect from the world's leaders."

But would he want missile defense restored in Eastern Europe? "So much of that is contingent what the people in these places where the bases would be built have to say about it. We can't tell people unilaterally that they have to put missile bases on the